Follow the journey of a Wisconsin family of 4 who relocated to the Walt Disney World area in July 2011

Category Archives: Entertainment

This past Wednesday I was able to participate in a Disney Parks Blog Limited Time Magic opportunity; a walk through the Magic Kingdom with Phil Holmes, the VP of the Magic Kingdom (MK). I wanted to share this tour with you. We started outside the main gate at 7:45am with Phil telling us that this tour came out of the Park walk-throughs that he asks his new leaders to do as they join his team. This is done so that the leadership can gauge what the frontline Cast Members (CMs) see and hear during their days. This lets Disney provide the best experiences for the Guests and it is those top flight experiences that in turn drive the Disney ‘machine’. By providing the best for the Guests, Disney takes care of the financial line without worrying about the bottom line as most companies do, the bottom line takes care of itself.

Our first stop was at the Roy Disney/Minnie Mouse bench in Town Square. Phil shared his story of working construction for Disney World before it opened and how he saw how differently Roy acted in comparison to how he thought a company leader would, particularly in seeing Roy bus away his own tray as well as others’ after lunches in the construction cafeteria.

We walked down Main Street taking in the view of a near empty Park (some early ADR Guests were in by this time) and Cinderella Castle. We stopped in front of the Castle to view a card showing the many different ‘variations’ the Castle has had over the years. Phil did quip that the comment he most hears about the Castle is how bad the 25th Anniversary ‘Birthday Cake Castle’ was and that it shouldn’t be done again (personal thought here – I agree). His story here was simple, that Walt’s vision for Disneyland and Disney World was that they weren’t built to be museums, static and never-changing. They were meant to change and evolve and to always bring new experiences. To exemplify this he told how the current colour of the Castle isn’t the same as it was back on Opening Day. A few years back the designer of the Castle in Paris came to him and Meg Crofton and suggested that the colouring schemes used there would also fit the MK Castle as well. And so, with confidence (and the thought that if it didn’t work they could always re-paint it) the Castle was re-painted…and it looks wonderful.

From here we walked up to the Castle’s main entrance and behind the Castle Stage. We could see back up a now empty Main Street and into the Hub. Phil told us here what he had said back during the 40th Anniversary Celebration (which we had attended 2 years ago) and reminisced on his time as a CM at the Haunted Mansion on opening day; a job he got after impressing his boss while working construction and being offered a job “inside in the air conditioning”.

We then walked through “the hardest working Castle in the world” and into Fantasyland; the ‘heart’ of the Magic Kingdom. Here we saw photos of Fantasyland as it was opening day and how it has changed over the years. Phil explained why the decision was made to replace Snow White’s Scary Adventure with Princess Fairytale Hall. This was because on Opening Day and for years you met the Princesses in Fantasyland but they had since moved to places they just didn’t belong, Mickey’s Toontown Fair and then Town Square; and that the fairy tale Princesses belonged in Fantasyland in the Castle. Since there was no room in the Castle, they picked the next thing, the show building next to it. He told of how he questioned the Imagineers on the need for Castle Walls being added as part of the New Fantasyland expansion; agreeing once it was explained that the walls ‘close off’ the Castle Courtyard and transition you into the Villages and Enchanted Forest of New Fantasyland. He also told us here that we’ll never see the true classic attractions close; mentioning “it’s a small world”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Haunted Mansion” and “Peter Pan’s Flight”. We’ll see them change and evolve, using the addition of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow to Pirates as an example, but not closed.

We walked into New Fantasyland first stopping at the Be Our Guest Restaurant. Here we heard how the designers wanted to feature a restaurant as the centerpiece of the expansion in order to provide a new experience not available in the Park before and in a way to make it accessible to all; counter service for lunch and sit-down service for dinner while encompassing the Guests into the Beauty and the Beast story. We walked into Belle’s Village where we learned that having Gaston meet here was an important piece as he was highly requested and seldom appeared outside of Epcot and that his Meet and Greet has become a very popular and interactive experience. We visited Bonjour Gifts where Phil posed with the portrait of “his ancestor” that hangs there. I asked him here what the ‘story’ is behind the ‘little door’ behind the Shoppe. He had no real answer, saying that it was a great way to theme a utility hatch, but if Guests wanted a story, he’d have to ask the Imagineers to create one; perhaps a door for Mrs. Potts to use to visit the Shoppe. Last we visited “Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid”. Here we learned how the Imagineers learn all the time how to apply new technology and methods even to older attractions. In this case it is the grass. The grass covering the outside of this attraction is so realistic that many do believe it is real. This can now be applied to other attractions that feature grassy areas, specifically mentioning Splash Mountain, to make them more realistic. We also learned that the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Coaster is on schedule to open pre-summer of 2014 as planned. This coaster was designed with families in mind, following Walt’s vision that the rides should always be ones that the whole family can enjoy together, including rollercoasters; and this will be one that all can ride and not just the 75% that ride many other Disney coasters like Space Mountain.

From here we ventured into Storybook Circus. Here were learned that the vision of Storybook Circus came from designs that Walt Disney had drawn up himself for a never built Circusland at Disneyland. We also learned that research had shown that for almost all Guests, a stay at Disney World couldn’t end without riding Dumbo, so over the years Dumbo was redesigned to add arms and elephant cars but that it still wasn’t enough. Building Storybook Circus allowed for an increased capacity by adding the second Dumbo; but it also allowed for a centerpiece to be built for the area, the wait area that allows for children to play and burn energy while parents enjoy a rest in the air conditioning. Now came our big surprise as we walked down to the Fantasyland Train Station. We boarded the train and were told that we were going to help be part of the Magic Kingdom Welcome Show…wow! After we boarded we had a Q&A time with Phil where we learned things such as Limited Time Magic will end 12/31/13 but may come back in future years, there are no plans for ‘Dapper Danielles’ but there were also no plans in the past for female train engineers or other positions so ‘never say never’, the Frozen Princesses will be around for Meets ‘forever’ but not at the Magic Kingdom, Phil’s granddaughters were Batman and Robin for Halloween and more trinkets. Now it was time for the characters to board; Mary Poppins, Stitch, Lady Tremaine, Pluto, Minnie and Mickey (and more). The train circled around to the Main Street Station and hearing the noise build as we got closer and closer was just electric. Waving to the waiting crowd and being a part of a show that opens the Park to all each day brought a lump to my throat…it was just pure joy and I was a little boy again.

After the show we each had a photo taken with Phil and received a special gift, a Legacy of Leadership pin featuring a photo of Walt in front of a Florida map. A treasure I’ll cherish forever!

A huge thank you to the Walt Disney Company, the Disney Parks Blog and to Mr. Phil Holmes for providing this opportunity to all of those who have had a chance to enjoy this thrilling time.

Picture the Magic Kingdom on a high crowd level day: long stand-by lines for attractions, people pushing through areas trying to make ADRs, or FastPass times or just simply to reach that next attraction. For most people, this proves to be a minor annoyance but to them the magic of Walt Disney World is worth the inconveniences. However, to a child with autism, this can prove to be a sensory nightmare, and a such you will not find us in the parks on a high-level crowd day. As our Ben will tell you: “I don’t do so well in crowds”.

Children with autism typically tend to have noise sensitivities. That child ahead of you in the queue line with headphones on? Without the noise blocking mechanisms of those headphones, the noise would literally prove to be too painful for the child to tolerate it. Ben uses ear plugs for such attractions as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion (in the stretching room where people tend to scream) and Dream Along with Mickey in the Magic Kingdom; Rock n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones, Mulch, Sweat & Shears, Backlot Tour, and Muppets in the Studios; Test Track, Mission Space, Soarin’, and Candlelight Processional in Epcot; and Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Festival of the Lion King, and Finding Nemo the Musical in the Animal Kingdom. Ben considers the Studios to be one of the noisiest parks.

Enjoy waiting in line? Well, nobody really does, but for children with autism, this is extremely hard. We have been so thankful for the Guest Assistance Card to help Ben with these lines. The current DAS card which replaced it has been helpful, but it does have more limitations than what we’ve experienced previously. See our earlier post here on the DAS card.

We have been blessed to have been able to move close to Walt Disney World, as Ben has loved Mickey Mouse ever since he was a preschooler. Mickey is such a calming force in his life. We accept, however, that there are certain times that we are not able to go into the Parks, such as the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve fireworks. He loves fireworks, but not the crowds. We are not always able to attend meets, as it depends largely on how Ben is that day. A high autism day means very little patience for waiting around, and what really is there to do with a crowd of people for a length of time? We have found the iPhone and its numerous apps to be a valuable tool in waiting in lines, but there are times that it can only provide so much entertainment before he gets bored with it.

We are thankful to our friends who understand and love Ben for who he is. He is an amazing child, and we wouldn’t have him any other way.

On April 13 2011, at our 100 day mark, we put out a list of 100 things that we wanted to do as Florida residents. See the original post here . We thought it would be interesting to see what we’ve done so far- our comments will be in blue. We’ll cover #1-50 today, and #51-100 tomorrow.

1. Resort hop. We have only ever stayed at POR-Riverside as a family, and we really want to experience each resort on property. So even though our current goal is to live 20 minutes away from Walt Disney World, we plan to do weekend stays at each resort, over the course of a year or two, and really take in the charm and uniqueness each resort has to offer. Nope not yet. This is something we still want to do.

2. Enjoy a Dole Whip 🙂 We’ve enjoyed them at Magic Kingdom but we still want to experience them at the Polynesian where you can disperse your own.

3. Attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Our first time next year

4. Attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party No, we haven’t, but between the two parties we’d prefer to do the Halloween party first, as you can experience most everything the Christmas party offers on the week leading up to Christmas on a regular day in the Magic Kingdom- well except for maybe the hot cocoa and cookies!

5. Go on a Disney Cruise! Right now with living in Wisconsin, the price of getting to the cruise has been a huge obstacle for us. We’re of the mindset that if we’re going to spend that much money, we’d rather spend it at WDW! Cruises are really very reasonable as long as you don’t have to travel over a thousand miles to get to one. Nope, not yet but still in the works!

6. Explore Animal Kingdom Park. There are so many areas of AK that we have not discovered simply due to the intense Florida heat, or lack of time available to us. We have done the basics, such as Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Festival of the Lion King, Nemo &amp; Friends and Kilimanjaro Safari, just to name a few. (There are more). But it seems that there is so much more to Animal Kingdom to take in, and we are looking forward to being able to do that in the cooler Florida months, when we have the time to dedicate to it. We have not explored all that Animal Kingdom has to offer, but we have done more. We find the cooler months are the best times to visit Animal Kingdom, and we tend not to even go in the hot, summer months. Jen will be touring the backstage areas on Thursday through a special promotion with Disney Parks Blog, so check back later in the week for a special post detailing that.

7. Go to Magic Kingdom in the evening just for the parades We have not done this, primarily because although we only live 25 miles from the Magic Kingdom, it takes us approximately 45 minutes to reach the parking lot, and another 15 minutes or so for monorail/bag check time. With the cost of gas prices, it is not cost efficient to travel two hours just to attend a parade.

8. Have brunch at Chef Mickey’s 🙂 One of Ben’s favorite spots to see his buddy Mickey!

9. Ride the monorails, just for the fun of it We do so once in awhile

10. Start a new tradition of celebrating birthdays at Walt Disney World This a wonderful perk of living so close to Walt Disney World.

11. Ride Splash Mountain at night during Wishes We haven’t since moving to Florida- used to be a favorite thing to do while on vacation

12. Ride Big Thunder at night during Wishes See #11

13. Listen to Lou Mongello’s audio guides while on Main Street/Adventureland/Fantasyland/Liberty Square and take the time to absorb all the details No we haven’t but we should 🙂

14. Have lunch at Le Cellier Yes, one of our favorite places to eat in Epcot.

15. Watch Illuminations on a winter’s night, enjoying the fact that it is warm & there is no snow on the ground Yes & we enjoy the no snow fact not just at Illuminations but every month from November to May 🙂

16. Go to Universal Catie has been to Universal on a school trip but the rest of the family has not made it yet

17. Go to Sea World A few times- we especially love the new Antarctica attraction.

18. Explore the beaches of Florida–kids have never been to the ocean before. We plan to go to both sides of Florida: The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean Yes and yes. We’ve been to Anna Maria Island and Treasure Island on the Gulf side, and Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic side.

19. Dinner with Amy and Craig Petermann No, it never worked out.

20. Being able to meet Facebook friends who do not live in Florida but come to Walt Disney World on vacation. Shelley Urick Jones , we look forward to meeting you! This is another awesome benefit of living so close to Walt Disney World, the ability to meet up with our Facebook friends! There are too many to mention here, but we love meeting up with you all!

21. Lou Mongello’s WDW Radio Meets of the Month We have been to some!

22. Exploring the city of Clermont and getting to know our new home city Yes we know our way around fairly easily. We really like the area and enjoy living here.

23. Spending time in the Parks with Stephen and Judy Demeritt We always enjoy spending time in the Parks with our friends.

24. Meeting Marilyn Johnson in person! Marilyn and her husband Dan were extremely gracious and made us feel very welcome after we first moved to Florida. We’re blessed to have met them.

25. Go to Gatorland Still on the bucket list!

26. Enjoy the Osborne lights at the Studios as many times as possible These are incredibly awesome and guaranteed to instill the Christmas spirit in you! We do try to go as many times as possible during the season.

27. Enjoy making new friendships with all our Facebook friends who live in Florida Absolutely!

28. Walking through the World Showcase at Epcot while our kids are in school. We have not been able to explore all the countries because of the kids not wanting to spend time there. Exploring the countries is still on our bucket list. We pulled our children from the public schools and homeschool them. Can we say field trip! 🙂

29. The various shopping opportunities, not only at Walt Disney World, but at the many outlet malls in Orlando and the surrounding areas. Ikea! Yes, IKEA rocks, and we love being able to visit any store we want to within a short driving distance. We have discovered a few Disney Outlet Stores in the Orlando Area, which can be hit or miss on the merchandise available, but definitely worth checking into it.

30. Just enjoying the whole adventure of relocating to a new state! 🙂 🙂

31. Day trips to explore Florida: cities in particular that pop into our heads for no particular reason are Tampa, Naples, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville. We have not yet had any day trips, but two that may happen in the next year are St. Augustine for the historical aspect of it (another field trip!) and Naples…..can we say Culver’s! Ok, that is not the only reason to visit Naples, but it’s definitely an incentive!

32. Shelling at Sanibel Island We have not done this yet; we have heard it’s not as good as it was in years past, but we would still like to visit.

33. Chuckling to ourselves in February when the temperature is 80 and sunny, knowing that back in Wisconsin it is probably blowing and snowing and bitterly cold. Will we miss snow? No we will not! We apologize to all our Wisconsin friends, but yes we do chuckle 🙂

34. Taking in Bob Jackson’s show at the Port Orleans Riverside resort! We haven’t, but the main reason is the noise level is just too unbearable for Ben. He has noise sensitivities and he can’t tolerate it.

35. Staying at the Port Orleans Riverside resort for old times sake! Definitely on the want-to-do-list SOON! We have eaten in the food court a few times.

36. Christmas shopping at Downtown Disney Every year- we love the atmosphere at Downtown Disney!

37. Riding down the Sassagoula River from Port Orleans Riverside to Downtown Disney (and vice versa) No not yet.

39. Visiting Celebration for leaf drop (to replace the Fall we will be missing in Wisconsin) No not yet

40. Being there for opening day of the new Fantasyland No, but we were for opening weekend 🙂

41. Resort hopping at Christmas to see all the different Christmas decorations This is in the plans for this year. We have been to the Grand Floridian, to view the Gingerbread House and the Christmas decorations, which are incredible.

42. Counting garbage cans to make sure the Demeritts caught them all 😉 No.

43. Trying on every hat that is sold on Disney property We’ve given up the practice of trying on hats, after a cast member friend of ours mentioned how everybody tries on hats and do you really want to put something on your head after hundreds of people have put it on their head? Um, no.

44. Food and Wine Festival 🙂

45. Enjoy a carrot cake cookie No, but we have enjoyed a Butterfinger cupcake. Actually it was too rich for our tastes, would not buy it again.

Ever since the rumours started a few months back that Disney would soon be changing the Guest Assistance Card (GAC) program to a new system or doing away with it altogether, we’ve been waiting for the official word to come. A few weeks ago that word came and the GAC was set to change over to the new Disability Access Service (DAS) effective October 9th. You can find Disney’s official statement and FAQ on the program at this link. Our first visit to a Park under the new program was this past Saturday, October 12th. Here is our experience at the Magic Kingdom.

We started our day with a stop at Guest Services at City Hall. The line was shorter than we typically encounter and we were met at the door by a very nice CM, Vas, who brought us inside. He asked a few questions on Ben’s needs and began filling out a form on his iPad entering this info. He used the iPad to take Ben’s photo and then went behind the desk to pick up the printed DAS card. They are no longer hand-printed, they are printed out using the info supplied to the CM, the Guest’s photo, the issuing Park and the time frame the card will be good for. Vas explained that as Annual Passholders we could only get the card for 14 days. He told us this was due to the fact that Disney is still testing and refining the process and they want to be able to make changes as needed. He also went over the program in detail explaining how the card works. We take the card to the Fastpass entrance of any attraction where the CM will note the current time, the wait time and the return time on the back of the card. The return time is based on the current wait time minus 10 minutes. So if the current time is 3:00pm and the wait time is 30 minutes, the return time will be 3:20pm. We can return any time after that return time, there is no time limit as with a Fastpass. We also learned that if we are given a return time and decide to skip that attraction, we have to go back to that attraction and have the return time crossed out, even if we don’t ride, before we can get a new one at another attraction.

Next we had Re-Entry Passes (sometimes referred to as Re-admittance or Re-ad cards) explained. If a Guest has a cognitive disability that could cause melt-downs when waiting to board or re-ride a favourite attraction, Disney will issue Re-Entry Passes to allow for immediate use of the Fastpass queue to enter. These look like and are used just as Fastpass tickets (photo below). We were issued 1 pass apiece for 3 attractions, a total of 12 passes for the 4 of us.

We entered the Magic Kingdom and decided to first get a set of Fastpasses for one attraction to plan around. We got these for Winnie the Pooh and also received a set for Mickey’s Philharmagic. Our plan was to get a DAS return time, enjoy Mickey and then go forward from there. Jen went to get a DAS time at Under The Sea. The CM was confused at first, it seemed this was the first one she had done, but quickly had the card filled out. We were given a 30-minute return time and then went into Philharmagic using those Fastpasses. After enjoying the show we walked over to Under the Sea and arrived just at our return time. We entered through the Fastpass queue where the CM crossed out the entry and let us enter. We showed the DAS card again at the second CM and entered in.

After riding Under the Sea we still had some time before we could use our Pooh Fastpasses so we used the Re-entry Passes to ride Barnstormer. To use these passes we do need to show the DAS card as well, although the CM at Barnstormer didn’t ask to see it. We were asked to see it when using the passes at Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear however. Afterwards we used our ‘regular’ Fastpasses at Pooh and then moved to Tomorrowland where we used the Re-entry Passes at Space Mountain and Buzz and also rode TTA. At this point my energy was spent for the day and we headed home.

Overall our experience was very positive. The CMs were all helpful and everything worked smoothly for us Saturday. With good planning; by using Fastpasses (and Fastpass+ once available), the Re-entry Passes and the DAS card this program should work out well for our particular needs. We can see how this program might still need refinement for families coming on vacations and for those families with different needs. It does work differently for those needing extra accommodations, such as using strollers as wheelchairs, etc., as well.

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